1st Sunday of Lent 18.2.18 Desire
The body and soul are not meant to be in conflict with each
other, but there is conflict, because of some wrong turnings people have made.
The first sin broke the order of things, and from then on
the lower would rebel against the higher, and this is all around us now.
When the physical order is pursued as the highest good we
have a major breakdown in the system. Even in ourselves we find no peace and calm my soul may win because my
body craves to sin.
We crave for forbidden pleasure when the allowable pleasures
are enough, by far, to fill us with joy. We don’t need anything forbidden but
we go after it all the same.
We ask the Lord to help us in this Lenten season. He had
perfect balance between body and soul. He did all this for our sake.
He was teaching us, and at the same time enabling us to operate
at the higher level, which He would set.
All who come into harmony with Him will share in that new
order whereby desires and objectives will come back into proper order.
We will take on a more spiritual view of reality and
therefore restore what was lost. What was lost at Eden is coming back.
The fasting, and other penance we do, atone for our sins and
set straight what was crooked. When we sin we grasp what is not ours; when we fast
we are giving back what is ours, a kind of reversal. This is symbolic largely,
but it will make a real difference.
Unfortunately the world, infested with sin, does not take
Lent seriously, nor Fridays, nor any call to repentance.
This is itself the result of sin, and the weakness that
comes with it.
The world trumpets pleasure and its pursuit, going from one
thing to another, no time to think. For the world it is Mardi Gras all Lent, indeed
all year.
The world achieves some deeper insight, for instance in valuing
human love, but setting that as the highest goal still falls short of God, and
cannot yield complete happiness.
It takes discipline to look further all the time, and not
just sink into the present moment, but if we can look further we will discover
a great deal.
If we add prayer to fasting we will start to sense God's
presence more strongly and we will find new horizons opening. We will not necessarily
have a change of life situation, just a higher quality of love and wellbeing.
We are not leaving the real world, just making the world
more real.
We can fast from sin too. We learn to hold back, not necessarily
doing the first thing that occurs to us.
This is the whole principle of holiness. The Cross comes before,
and leads to Resurrection.
And of martyrdom: Take my life and give me a better one.
We are encouraged to want more. Restrain from earthly
things, yes, but when it is a matter of spiritual goods, then the more we want
the better.
God wants us to have this desire and it will be fulfilled,
if only we can override the false and misleading desires.
We can take control of a large part of this, not just drift,
nor be buried in the world.
We are putting back what has been broken. May the Lord complete
His healing work in us.
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